Real estate as part of nonprofit biz model?

[MaryJane Huenergardt]

Hi! I sit on the board of a community health/fitness focused non-profit (you can probably guess which one, as it's a regional association of an international organization with its own disco-era song) that is desperately struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic. Most of the staff is furloughed. We're down to a few core employees at reduced pay--just the CEO, the marketing person, the grant-writer, and the Childcare Director (we've been offering childcare to essential workers) and a skeleton building/childcare crew remain.

It seems to me that "pandemic proofing" our community-centric non-profit would be essential to its long-term survival, and that real estate would be worth exploring as a way to both rescue and sustain it. Does anyone have any experience incorporating a real estate investment portfolio as an element of a non-profit's sustained funding strategy? I'm not even sure it's allowable, though our organization (as a global whole but not our association) does have a deep history with SROs. Perhaps incorporating the SRO track would be something to explore.

We need to raise a LOT of money to continue right now, and in my mind it could be compelling to approach major donors with a real estate plan, if it's allowed. Such a plan would allow a donor to make a gift that will keep on giving, rather than just as a short-term rescue.

Side note: We have real estate developers on our board, so I plan to pick their brains a little. I remember a conversation with an architect awhile back who told me that building a branch of our organization factored into his vision of a housing development he was working on (but never actually happened). So that might be another interesting, real estate related avenue.

Thank you for your time and thoughtfulness.